UK's NICE to assess value of medicines from 2014

The UK drugs watchdog the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) will take responsibility for assessing the full value of medicines when new pricing arrangements are introduced in 2014, the Ministry of Health announced March 21.

The government confirmed the plans in its official response to the Health Select Committee’s report on the future role of the NICE which has now been published. The move will give the NICE a crucial role in the future value-based pricing arrangements for branded medicines. It will allow the body to build on its current drug evaluation processes by giving it broader scope to assess a medicine’s benefits and costs. The aim is to make sure that the price the National Health Service pays for new medicines is more closely linked to their value to NHS patients and society.

The announcement comes as the NICE is also preparing to take on other new responsibilities. From April, its remit will be extended to cover social care, as well as the NHS and public health. This will assist in the development of better integration of services between different health and care organizations, the Ministry said.